Winchester Ammunition has released an immediate recall on their Ranger 5.56 which is mainly marketed towards law enforcement. A number of law enforcement AR-15s have experienced catastrophic failures while using Winchester’s 5.56 ammunition–the rifles used were Colts, Bushmasters, and Stag Arms; all of which are pretty reputable and commonly used AR-15s. Check out the events that lead to recall below that was released by TheFirearmBlog.com:
ATTN: REQUEST FOR NATIONAL BROADCAST – FIREARMS HAZARD INFORMATION
****** CORRECTION TO ORIGINAL BROADCAST SENT 2/25/11 *******
Attention Law Enforcement Agencies, this Police Department is seeking any similar incidences with the .223/5.56 style rifles.On 02/14/11 an officer was attending an M4/MP-5 class and during a shooting session, the .223 rifle (Stag Arms) experienced a catastrophic failure resulting in an upper receiver cracking and the bolt being pushed into the bolt assembley.
During a SWAT training day on 02/23/11, three more M4 style rifles experienced a catastrophic failure at the same time. All three rifles experienced the bolts being pushed into the bolt assembly, the upper receivers were cracked and / or broken apart, and the lower receivers were bowed outward. The ammunition we used in all the rifles were Winchester RA223R2 Ranger 64 gr. Power Point.
The Rifles were: 1-Colt, 2- Bushmasters and 1 – Stag Arms
Back in January, this teletype was making the rounds:
**ATTENTION ALL LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES**OFFICER SAFETY INFORMATION**THE XXXXXXXX POLICE DEPARTMENT HAS EXPERIENCED THREE CATASTROPHIC FAILURES OF AR STYLE RIFLES/THE FAILURES INCLUDED THE COMPLETE DESTRUCTION OF THE UPPER AND LOWERS OF THESE WEAPONS/THE THREE WEAPONS WERE WELL MAINTAINED WITH REGULAR DOCUMENTED MAINTENANCE PERFORMED BY A CERTIFIED ARMORER/THE THREE WEAPONS HAD BEEN IN SERVICE FROM 3 TO 10 YEARS/THE COMMON DENOMINATOR CONSIDERED WAS THE AMMUNITION USED DURING THE FAILURES/THE THREE RIFLES EXPERIENCING FAILURE WERE FIRING WINCHESTER RANGER RA223R2, 64GR POWER POINT, LOT NUMBER 065DK31/OTHER WEAPONS FIRING THE SAME AMMUNITION BEARING A DIFFERENT LOT NUMBER WERE NOT AFFECTED AND PERFORMED NORMALLY/IF YOU HAVE AMMUNITION BEARING THE LAST FOUR DIGITS DK31 IN THE LOT NUMBER IT IS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED YOU QUARANTINE THAT AMMUNITION AND CONTACT WINCHESTER**
If you own some Winchester 5.56 Ranger ammo, I would strongly suggest you check out the lot numbers and bump them against Winchester’s Recall notice located here.
